


Embers in the Snow

by StaringAtTheTwinSuns



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Brother/Sister Incest, Cold, Cold Weather, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Incest, Kissing, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Sibling Incest, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 05:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14418573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaringAtTheTwinSuns/pseuds/StaringAtTheTwinSuns
Summary: Luke and Leia are trapped in the snow when their speeder breaks down. Luke knows that holding Leia close will help keep them both warm... but they haven't really touched in this way since Endor, and the feelings he tries to hide haven't died.In response to this Tumblr prompt: "Luke/Leia, cuddling for warmth :D"





	Embers in the Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheTruthBetween](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTruthBetween/gifts).



> Please just assume that Han/Leia never happened for the purpose of this fic? I don't want to kill Han or break his heart so... he's just not here. Enjoy! :)

Beads of frost had crystallized on Leia’s eyelashes, and her breath came white and hot against Luke’s cheek.

But Luke was almost afraid to touch her, even though she needed the warmth. Things were different now, and it had been too long.

“This reminds me of Hoth,” she said, through teeth that chattered even though her smile.

It reminded Luke of Hoth, too, and that was part of the problem. It wasn’t just the ice and the snow and the wind that seemed to bite their faces. It reminded him of other frigid nights. Of hopes and fears and feelings that had sputtered out in some cases and been sniffed out in others. Feelings that weren’t appropriate anymore.

He hugged his arms around himself, and buried his face in his parka. “They’ll be here soon. I can’t believe the speeder just gave out on us.”

“The war might be over,” Leia said with a smile, “but our battle with outdated technology goes on.”

Luke laughed, or he tried to, but it turned into a cough. It had been years since he’d been on a planet this cold, and he didn’t intend to be around long enough to get used to it. The air seemed to burn his throat and lungs, and even in the thickly-padded snow gear, his toes and the fingers of his left hand were starting to go numb.

“Luke.”

That was all she said. Just his name. But it touched him like a kiss and prodded him like a gentle question.

“I’m fine.” He answered one of the many things she hadn’t asked, and ignored the others, and then repeated, more for himself than for her, “They’ll be here soon.”

“Luke,” Leia said again, and stepped forward to close the space between them. “You can…” she said. “We should… I mean, we’ll lose less body heat together.”

He hadn’t touched her since Endor, though. Not any more than a brush in a hallway, or maybe a tap on a shoulder. Once the adrenaline had worn off, after the battle, everything had started to feel wrong.

The problem was, really, that it didn’t feel wrong, to wrap his arms around her, pull her close. It didn’t feel wrong, to know the curves of her body so well he felt them even through two layers of snowsuits. To know how she would react, when he touched her just there. To fall back into place as though they’d never left it.

It felt wrong to  _ not _ feel wrong, somehow. It felt wrong to still want this, to want  _ something _ , now that they were… now that they knew who they were.

“You’re right,” he managed to say. “It is warmer.”

Leia nodded, a little movement that nestled her further into the downy pillow of Luke’s chest. For a moment, neither of them moved.

When she spoke, it was barely a whisper against the wind.

“I missed this.”

What could Luke say to that?  _ We can’t. It’s wrong. I never loved you this way. _

But it was one thing to keep his distance. Lying outright was something else.

“I missed this too,” he said, and lowered his head so hers settled right there, beneath his chin, against his heart, where it belonged. “I missed you.”

She slid to the ground then, pulling him with her, until his body was curled around his like a shell. “They’ll be here soon, right?” Leia whispered.

Luke nodded, and a strand of frosty hair fell across his forehead. Leia reached up, and swept it away. Her eyes glowed warm, although her lashes were still diamond-studded, and her cheeks, warmed now by the cocoon their bodies made for each other, flushed pink against the background of the snow.

She was waiting.

This was something Luke tried not to do: using the Force to tell him what his friends were thinking or feeling, before they had had a chance to decide that it was something they wanted him to know. It had been hard at first, to block them out. To lock himself in. But he felt it now—a measured impatience. A nudge, that said  _ It’s your turn. _

She meant him to feel it, then. She wanted him to do something more.

He hadn’t dared to think she would. Not now that—not since Endor. But she did, and now, through the Force, she was consciously, if silently, telling him.

He cupped her face between his hands. “Can I kiss you?”

It sounded so silly, spoken aloud. But she smiled, and wrapped her arms around him. “I think that would keep us warm,” she whispered, as if the snow and ice had ears to hear them. “And besides, I’d like it a lot, too.”

Luke had feared it would feel dirty, or like a different kind of love—like when he’d been a kid and kissed Aunt Beru. But it was more like stepping back in time, to when he was just Luke, and she Leia. When the first of their scars were still fresh wounds and they’d turned to each other to heal.

Her lips were rough with the cold, but so were his, and they grew softer and warmer the longer they stayed there, together. Exploring each other, testing out the familiar contours of a home abandoned too soon.

“I never stopped loving you,” he whispered.

“I know.” She kissed him this time, brief and gentle. “You don’t have to. I’m here, for as much or as little as you want. I… needed to make sure you knew that.”

“I do,” he said. “At least, I do now. I…” But there was too much to say, and the words wouldn’t come.

Leia knew that too, maybe. That he needed time to figure out how to fall back into something he’d counted as lost as the angry princess and the naive farmboy they’d once been.

“It’s so cold,” she said.

“They’re on their way,” Luke said again, and as if on cue, his comlink buzzed.

“Luke!” Wedge’s voice rang out. “We’ve just picked you up on the short-range scanners.”

“That gives us what?” Leia asked. “Maybe five minutes?”

“More or less.” Luke wrapped his arms around her.

Their gloves made them clumsy and the cold made it hard to do much but just lie there and  _ be.  _ But they  _ were _ . And he had missed that more than he’d been willing to admit, since Endor.

“When we get back…?” Luke started to ask, but he didn’t know the rest of the question.

“Of course,” Leia said, and wiped another strand of icy hair from his forehead.

Luke didn’t know what the question would be, but the answer felt right anyway.


End file.
